Australian Antarctic Division: Leading Australia’s Antarctic Program

Field cuisine

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This week at Macquarie Island: 18 November 2011

When it comes to cooking in the field, Macca is steeped in tradition.

The Albatross Cookbook. This is a collection of tried and true Macca recipes, put together by some very clever albatross researchers. Polenta, spam, halva, quinoa, they tell you how to render all these things edible.

Sunday morning pancakes. Without fail.

Frey Bentos. This is a steak and kidney pie-in-a-tin. The carnivores among us get addicted - it’s the only thing in the field that actually does resemble meat.

What’s more, Macca huts are stocked with copious amounts of food - bottled, canned, dehydrated, vacuum packed, salted, sugared, pickled. Much of it can be consumed straight out of the packet, but Macca-ites generally opt for a little more gastronomic creativity.

Take Pete K for instance. Turns out he's quite the chef. This week he treated Sandy, Ben H, Pete P and Claud to a feast at Green Gorge. Using chops he'd carried out from station, he whipped up a monumental curry accompanied by well-kneaded roti. This was washed down with a choice of teas – green, earl grey, English breakfast, Darjeeling, rosehip and chamomile. Ben H did the dishes, which deserves an honourable mention because there were many.

In Tiobunga Hut on the foggy murk of the plateau, Gary had also thawed out chops. He opted to keep these whole and grill them in a tomato and prune jus, accompanied by tiny taters and a little red wine. Tama and Joker enjoyed a feast of bones the next day.

Further south at Windy Ridge Hut, Dean and Pete P went all vego, dabbling with nutmeat, BBQ sauce, dehydrated onions, egg powder and spices to produce the most delish non-meat burger patties ever. Claud found that her famous 'potatoats' are just as good when made with dehydrated potato flakes, and baked a mighty fine pull-apart Parmesan and oregano bread for lunch the next day.

With all that foody goodness, it’s just as well that you burn off the excess calories walking back to station.

Claudia Babirat

Life in the field is simple(Photo: Claudia Babirat)

Pete P having a 'Cup-of-soup' at Gratitude shelter(Photo: Claudia Babirat)